The Crow's fly to Disneyworld! Jan 20-28, 2010 Pre-TR with Pics!

[Leshaface]

Hello Dis Friends!!!

Yes, I know, what a LAME title, but I really couldn't think of anything else! I figured with a last name like Crow, I could come up with something good, but this is all I got!

Chapter Links for those that want to skip over chit-chat!

1.) Introduction
2.) Introduction cont.
3.) Itinerary
4.) Disney's Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins!
5.) 30 days till...
6.)Departure Day!

Anyways, some introductions are in order, since I'm fairly new to the boards..

I'm Alicia, AKA Leshaface and this is my DH Daniel!

Just a little background info on us...we've known each other since since Freshman year of HS, and I hated him the first day we met. Definitely not love at first sight! Eventually he grew on me and I came to my senses and we started dating in 2003. July 21 2006 was the day that I married my best friend.

(sorry this is the best pic I have available at the moment)

I moved to Long Beach after we got married so we could continue our schooling at CSULB. Me, a health science geek, um major, and him sports administration. So do you know how far Disneyland is from Long Beach??? That's right, only twenty minutes by way of three freeways!!!

We got AP's in 2007 and have renewed every year so far! The most i've been in a month was probably 7 times. A lot for some people, not enough for others. We would go on average about 2-3 times a month when we had spare time. Daniel, unfortunately, was not injected with the Disney gene. So I've had to inject him myself, and with the help of Disney's wonderful corndogs and Dole Whips!!

So how did I make my way to the Disboards???

Well lets back up a bit...actually 25 years ago sounds about right. My parents actually injected me with the Disney gene so to say I'm a Disney nerd is not my fault.

My parents at the Disneyland parking lot in 1980, 4 years prior to me! Notice the 50 cent parking!!! Outrageous!!

My first trip to Disneyland was June 1987, when I was only 3 years old. How about some vintage Disneyland pics!

continued in next post...

 

[Leshaface]

Then my brother came into the picture and he too was injected with the Disney gene!

Our first family trip was in 1989 and we stayed at the one and only...

Pluto being, well, Goofy!

Yes, I had the Mexican grill...don't make fun of my grill!!

So that's enough reminiscing! On to the reason I'm doing a Pre-TR! As you've pretty much figured, we're going to Disneyworld!!

Our love for Disneyworld came after our first visit in June 2008 for our graduation present!

Ever since we've returned I've been planning for this upcoming trip...that's right one and a half YEARS of planning!!!

So here's the plan:

January 20-28, 2010 Coronado Springs on the Deluxe Dining plan with a 9 day park hopper!!!


I'm sooo stoked!!!

What are we celebrating? It's half for DH's graduation (Masters in Sports Administration and his teaching credential) and the other half is for our Anniversary (4 years)...and we're celebrating early because there is no way I will go back to Florida in July!!!! SOOOO HUMID!!! I'm from Central Cali so it gets hot here (110 in the summer) but it's a dry heat...Florida heat is like nothing i've EVER experienced!! BLAH!!! I was sweating the second I stepped out of our room!!!

Anyways, this trip will have LOTS of pics (getting a new DSLR for Christmas) , lots of food(helloooo, Deluxe Dining), and I'm sure many adventures!!!

So I hope you will join along with me!!!

 

[Leshaface]

January 20-28, 2010

Coronado Springs Resort with King sized bed

Deluxe Dining

9 day tickets with Park Hopper option

So here is our ADR's...as of now!

Wed January 20 - Kona Cafe 920am(B) / Artist Point 530pm(D)
Thurs January 21 - OOP lunch at AK / Yachtsman 540pm(D)
Fri January 22 - Tony's Town Square 1220pm(L) / Narcoossee's 655pm(D)
Sat January 23 - Le Cellier (L) / Flying Fish 655(D)
Sun January 24 - Cape May Cafe 730am (B)/Brown Derby F! package 345p
Mon January 25 - Les Chefs de France 1220 (L) / Cali Grill 7pm (D)
Tues January 26 - Teppan Edo 12pm (L) / Citricos 530pm (D)
Wed January 27 - Tutto Italia 1145am (L) / Jiko 530pm (D)
Thurs January 28 - The Wave 12pm (L)

Yes, we're hitting every Signature Dining restaurant!! Not sure if this deserves a or a

LOL!

So we're flying out of LAX on January 19 at 1020pm and will land at MCO on January 20 at 550am! A red eye it is! Now that's definitely a !

I've learned to schedule earlier flights for arrival and later flights for departure. In 2008, it seemed like we wasted a day or two for travel so we're making up for it this time!

Parks - We plan on going to the majority of rope drops and using EMH for evenings, not mornings. We will ride everything that is available to ride! We are fearless!!!

Drinking - We want to drink more around the world this time...last time it was just too hot to drink anything but water! We love love LOVE Yuengling and can't get it anywhere over here so here is a must. We also want to go to more resort lounges. Last year we only went to one resort lounge, the Tambu lounge which was fun, but definitely want to venture out!

Eating - Oh ya..we LOVE food! CS restaurants weren't enough for us last time, so it was DH's idea to upgrade from Basic to Deluxe...the only downside to this that I see would be maybe not enough times in the parks. Oh well!

Down time - If we have any that is, we want to go to Downtown Disney at least twice and hopefully, if it's not too cold, go swimming at our resort pool. We were scheduled to go see La Nouba but decided against it (actually DH REALLY doesn't care to see it!)

So this is our basic itinerary but things can change and I'm flexible....I think LOL!!

 

[Leshaface]

I had a day off today so I decided to finally give these a shot!

Got this recipe from the Disneyland thread which came out of the AP magazine for Fall 2008.

Omgosh!!! So delicious and moist! My DH and I actually had an "official" pumpkin muffin from the Main Street Bakery back in October, and can say they taste very similiar...

The only difference is that my muffin didn't come sprinkled with Disney magic!

If you get the chance, I definitely recommend baking these!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins:
2 cups pumpkin purée (canned)
1½ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
¾ cup canola oil
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. salt
1½ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. cinnamon
¾ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
½ cup raisins


Preheat oven to 325ºF.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla until well blended.
Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until just blended. Over mixing may result in less tender muffins.
Fold in the raisins until consistently distributed.
Portion mixture into muffin pans and bake at 325ºF for 25 minutes.
Insert a toothpick into center of muffin and remove. If toothpick is clean, the muffins are ready. If not, allow muffins to cook an additional 1-2 minutes or until toothpick is clean.
Allow muffins to cool for 30–60 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing:
1 cup unsalted butter
1½ cups cream cheese
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon


Allow cream cheese and butter to soften at room temperature for about an hour.
Mix cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
Add vanilla extract, powdered sugar and cinnamon, and mix until well blended.
Remove from mixer, and cover and refrigerate until needed.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a star tip with icing.
Poke a hole into the center of each cooled muffin and squeeze icing directly into the middle of the muffin, finishing with a rosette on the top.

 

[KatMark]

I stumbled upon your report and am joining in for your adventures. You are staying at our favorite resort (we've stayed eight times).

 

[KatMark]

Oh...and I love the old time photos!

 

[Leshaface]

I stumbled upon your report and am joining in for your adventures. You are staying at our favorite resort (we've stayed eight times).

Wow 8 times!!! Ya I'm SOOO excited about staying there! I'm kind of worried about how big the property is though....I'm thinking about requesting the Cabanas section and either getting building 3 or 4? What do you suggest? I want to be close to a bus stop and close to the health club....Sorry I would have separated all my questions but my enter button is BROKEN!!!

 

[KatMark]

Wow 8 times!!! Ya I'm SOOO excited about staying there! I'm kind of worried about how big the property is though....I'm thinking about requesting the Cabanas section and either getting building 3 or 4? What do you suggest? I want to be close to a bus stop and close to the health club....Sorry I would have separated all my questions but my enter button is BROKEN!!!

If you want to be by the spa, you want the Casitas (4 or 5), not the Cabanas (those are buildings 8 and 9). There are bus stops in every section; Casitas 4 and 5 are close to Bus Stop 2 (the first picked up and dropped off). Be sure to check out the CSR "Unofficial" Faq thread if you have any questions--you'll probably find the answer there.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2338336

 

[Leshaface]

If you want to be by the spa, you want the Casitas (4 or 5), not the Cabanas (those are buildings 8 and 9). There are bus stops in every section; Casitas 4 and 5 are close to Bus Stop 2 (the first picked up and dropped off). Be sure to check out the CSR "Unofficial" Faq thread if you have any questions--you'll probably find the answer there.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2338336

Yes the Casitas! I don't know why I was thinking Cabanas...LOVE that thread! It's so nicely put together too! So is Buzz2001's Unofficial CSR website!

 

[Leshaface]

I'm at Disney World!!!

YAY!!!

Still not sure what I'm doing my first day...I know we're having breakfast at Kona Cafe, but not sure if we're going to be so tired from our red-eye that we'll be taking a nap, or too excited and will be at a park since we do have a 9 day park hopper...

Decisions, decisions..

On a different note, I have started my stockpile on things I will be needing for the trip..

-Hand sanitizer
-Ponchos
-Gallon sized ziplock bags
-Sanitizer wipes (for tv remote, door handles, light switches)
-Door hanger with pouches to keep out bathroom counter top clean
-Individual sized kleenex

We need to get our butts in gear and get some bigger luggage...seeing as how they charge for every bag now, we want to keep it to just 1 large suitcase per person...but according to everyone here on the DIS, weather is always very iffy in January, so they say to pack everything! Well, that's kind of scary considering we want to just take two pieces of checked luggage total.

I was considering taking another piece of luggage so that we can put all of our souveniers in there, but DH is thinking about buying something like a box or another suitcase when we get to WDW so we can forgo the first checked luggage fee, and only pay on our way home...

Again...decisions, decisions...

Another note...Just got in my new Canon XSi Rebel this past weekend and am sooo STOKED on using it for our trip!

Haven't played with it yet because DH is giving it to me a christmas present so I can't open it until christmas.

I'll keep popping in periodically to give anymore updates to my trip!

 

[Leshaface]

Never thought this day would come, but now it's here and I'm so stoked!

So we'll be leaving from Central Cal to Los Angeles to day at around 330-4pm this afternoon for our flight out of LAX, and should arrive at MCO around 6am!

We're planning on checking in at CSR to get our KTTW cards activated so we can use our dining credits at Kona Cafe that morning!

So I'm off!

I'm hoping to report back with a terrific trip report, with LOTS of pics (1 camera for me, 1 for DH)!

Hopefully the weather will be on our side! Looks like we just missed the cold front that came through last week, so we'll see!

Take care everyone and God Bless!